HELP! Getting side of Stinkhorn mushrooms

AlbertaAnne(Edm, AB)August 30, 2004

Does anyone know of a good way to be rid of stinkhorn mushrooms? I have a bunch by my back door and they are horrid little things! The reek and they attract all kinds of bugs who are just spreading the spores all over the place. I keep waiting to see them pop up all over my lawn.

I'm sure no expert on mushrooms, but if I felt like you did, I'd just pick the mushrooms and put them in the garbage so that the spores (when they are ripe) don't fall in the same place. If you just let them be, they'll soon dry up and be gone anyway; this is what naturally happens once their fruiting cycle is done.
Apparently stinkhorns like a substrate of rotting wood - if they do return, maybe you could try removing the mulch or whatever they are growing on? I doubt very much they would spread to your lawn - perhaps you're thinking of fairy-ring mushrooms (which are entirely different than stinkhorns)?

In our experience, mushrooms don't usually regrow where we saw them the previous year in our yard (unforunately!) - they seem to be pretty transitory things. Have you had these come back year after year? If not, then I'd guess you probably won't see them again next year anyway (based on our limited experience). By the way, sort of the opposite of your "problem", we are attempting to create a woodland-type setting in parts of our yard, and would like nothing more than an interesting variety of mushrooms to spontaneously arise here and there! (The thought occurred to me to collect some mushrooms from the woods and scatter them about with the hope that the spores would ripen and find suitable habitat, but I missed my chance this year...)

Goodness! If you want interesting mushrooms you are more than welcome to come dig up my stinkhorns lol

This is the first time I have seen these things. I do hope they will not come back next year. It took quite awhile to even identify what they were (thank goodness for the internet!) Thank you for your input.

Our yard is a mushroom farm this year. We have had mushrooms of various kinds all spring and summer and are just having a large flush right now as it has recently rained. There is a big white mushroom growing in the middle of a Cerastium tomentosum. Our yard was carved out of a wild bush, in his infinite wisdom, the caterpillar operator pushed a bunch of chokecherry and saskatoon shrubs into the huge topsoil pile. This rotted away for over a year and then we moved the topsoil to spread it around the yard. We have literally thousands of sticks buried in the topsoil which we are forever pulling out. Well it has proved to be fertile ground for mushrooms, along with the fact that we finally got some rain this year, not a lot, but enough to fuel a mushroom boom. We also mulch with chipped poplar, chokecherry and saskatoon but the mushrooms are more concentrated in the topsoil. Following is a good website for identifying mushrooms.

Help. My son had a problem with stinkhorns last year around his pool area. He's ready to spend thousands of dollars to remove the mulch they were growing in and put down new mulch just so he doesn't have to see the ugly stinkhorns again.

Is there a better (and cheaper) way of not getting these horrid stinkhorns back this summer.

I read where these will probably not grow in the lawn; true??

Will they spread around the house or be confined to the pool area? Or is it anybody's guess.

I hate to see him hire someone to remove all the mulch, spread the new mulch for a few stinkhorns here and there.

I'm in Georgia and have acidic soil, which apparently mushrooms thrive in. I identified the two varieties in my yard as potentially poisonous (little brown mushrooms and Amanitas)-- which perhaps I'm mistaken... but after hours of internet researching, those are the closest varieties they resemble. One website suggested Lime, which I put down yesterday. As of this evening, no more mushrooms (they were growing back faster than I could pull them previously). Unfortunately, the lack of mushrooms also coincides with a change in weather (rain has stopped over past 3 days). However, Lime is very inexpensive so it is definately worth a shot. Make sure to water it in well- especially if you have pets.

My daughter was weeding a mulched area around my patio when she came upon "eggs". The next day there were about 15 of those "alien" looking fungi all over the mulch. I also noticed the flies on top...didn't know they spread the spores...the Round-Up did kill them, so we dug up the rest of the "eggs" and left them out in the sun to dry up before sprouting...hope they won't be back next year...very creepy if you ask me. Also we noticed a large number of wolf spiders in that same mulch...do they have anything to do with those eggs? The only other fungi that we ever saw on hardwood mulch before looked like someone "got sick", if you get the picture. Never saw stinkhorns before this year...have lived in this same house for 20 yrs.

those stinkhorns are dreadful; I have managed to mostly get rid of mine thru hard work: 1. digging out eggs, any affected mulch, and of course the stinkhorns themselves, disposing of them carefully and using disposable gloves so as not to spread the spores around.2. mixed up a copper-based fungicide solution and spraying down the soil and mulch.

The eggs seem to cluster in and under very finely shredded mulch, and much of my mulch (it has been a wet summer) seemed to have spore-y looking white thread-y stuff in it, so I got rid of that. Additionally, it is sometimes hard to see the stinkhorns as they hide in dense foliage like day lilies and under shrubs and plants. What I am doing is looking out for flies, which tips me off to the presence of the stinky stuff. I think it is important to get right to it and not procrastinate, as the spores (the sticky black-ish goo on the tip of the orange thing) are spread easily by those flies, leading to a larger problem.As much as these things are interesting, they are also incredibly repulsive, particularly as mine were right outside the living-room windows, in my small urban front yard! I guess at least I don't have the "dog-vomit" fungus as well, is the bright side. As much as I love my garden, those stinkhorns made me want to pave it over completely, at least for a fleeting moment.

I guess I'm not alone with this stinkhorn thing. It really spooked me out, not knowing what they were. I found 2 growing under one of my mums. I got rid of the eggs and the mulch (it was a small garden). I never thought I'd be looking forward to the first frost. (i think that will get rid of any others.)

I have the problem now..have been at my present location for 4 years and this is the first summer I seen these smelly, nasty thing! I faithfully go out everyday to dig up what's above ground and the eggs and thankfully after 3 weeks of this I notice the problem has decreased. However, I do not get them much in my flower beds. My problem, thankfully, seems to be limited to my lawn. We've had hurricanes coming through (florida) which resulted in trees coming down..I notice that they sprout up where trees used to be so I think the problem originates in roots still in the ground and rotting. My efforts have to find a solution via the internet has been fruitless-I can't even get a name of a fungicide to specfically eradicate these things! I am preparing to try EC-888 (a lawn-safe fungicide) which I think will work for the "brown Spots" my lawn has...if they work on stinkhorn I will update this posting. Until then, keep on diggin'!

Alright, I'm always the one to create problems. Contrary to what I've read here, yes the Stinkhorn can thrive in lawn and they do. My first observation (and this is not a joke) was when I saw what looked like someone played a joke on me and buried a chicken headfirst in my lawn. All I saw was two chicken legs sticking up out of the ground right in the middle of my lawn. I've had the problem for about 4 months now with no end in sight. I get thirty to forty a day and they stink! My lawn looks like a giant dead carcus with all the flies hanging around. These are the Lantern Stinkhorn. I believe they may have been brought in from Wild turkeys in the area who left droppings on my lawn. I spoke to a garden nursery in town and they didn't even know what it was, but they seemed to agree that wild turkeys may have had something to do with them. I created a small panic in the nursery and made a new enemy when the counter person got stinkhorn sludge all over his fingers as he inspected the sample I brought in. I have searched long and hard for a way to get rid of them and the concensus is that you can't. I start my day with a garbage can and small shovel just to try to dig them up by the bulb before the flies get to them. I have tried Nitrogen, round up etc. but have only managed to leave my yard looking like the moon with funny little stinkhorn thriving while flies gently bounce from one stinkhorn to the next. Everything else has been killed. My neighbors are watching with anticipation as they now know these can spread. I also tried the advice of an earlier post to enjoy them. That worked for about two months and the kids got tired of the rescue the buried chicken game. This is getting old and worse fast! Much to my dissapointment most websites seem to think these little Demon fungi are enjoyable or fascinating. A delicacy in china? Let me see someone eat them and I'll believe it. Nasty. You can have mine for your garden anytime, but. You'll be sorry!

As Stinkhorns are a fungi anything labelled herbicide (such as roundup) will do nothing more than kill the rest of your garden. Only fungicides will work to control them. They are in the phylum basidiomycota therefore research fungicides available in your area that control basidiomycetes. Products containing 2,3-dihydro-5-carboxanilido-6-methyl-1,4-oxathiin may work.

Killing Stinkhorn Mushrooms...
I've had these stinky serpents for 3 years now. I've tried straight bleach on them and it only worked for a week or so but they came right back. My stinkers keep coming back in the same general area each year. That sounds like a desperate move I agree- but unless you've had them you can't imagine the raw stench.

Well it's a new year and guess what- yep those stinking critters have emerged again. My wife wanted to cry and the kids laugh at the terrible smell. It really makes it hard to enjoy the outdoors. We have 5 stinkhorns popping up all at he same time with in 5 feet of eachother. Just look for the flys and they will help you locate the smallest stinker.

Like I said they just started to poke up from the mulch and I figured I'd try a new assault tactic this year. SALT - that's right table salt. I ripped open a new container of salt and buried each stinker. It was almost instant that the smell had completely gone away. The flys were confused and they quickly lost interest.

It has been 2 days and still no smell and it looks like the size of the stinkhorns have not grown. Is this a cure or a quick fix....? I don't even know at this early stage of the mushroom killing game , but I know we can enjoy the outdoors again without the smell.

Ok... the creepy-repulsive little sh_its (no pun) have crept into my mulch. I have talked with the experts (lol) and I'm told to keep digging up the mushrooms and egg sacks. Has anyone really found anything that works? Tomorrow it's more expensive chemicals and a new oxygen tank.

Being an amateur mycologist just starting out I'd have to say the boilling water idea mabee the most plausible with a litte "NO-DAMP" in the water would probably do the trick. because mycelium which is that white fluffy or stringy stuff spreading just under the surface..anyhow it cannot survive too much heat (thermal death occurs at 104 degrees F) in a lab setting.just my 2cents.

What you have is called an Elegant Stinkhorn which is part of the mushroom family. Being that mushrooms are considered a fungus, any fungal remover will work. Check with your local plant nursery for a recommendation.

I know this is an older topic but parts of this message sound like what I experienced so hopefully someone can tell me where to look for more information.

The other day, after it rained and as we were leaving, I noticed something out in the back yard in the lawn. When I got closer it was a big white pile of something that resembled cottage cheese (closest I can describe it) and several flies were buzzing around. The comments in this message that refer to "dog-vomit" fungus struck a chord for what this might be. I vaguely remember seeing a mushroom in that particular area of the yard just a day or so before. I couldn't deal with it then as we were leaving for the weekend so he quickly sprayed it down with a hose. We just got back today and I didn't see again but am worried something will now overtake the whole area.

Any ideas on what this could be, some search words that may help me find more information? So far, I am not turning up much. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Well I am glad that I am not the only one being plagued by these creepy things. I found one of these "fingers" in my fiance's mulch last Friday. I was so disturbed by this that I made him dig it out at 9:30 at night along with what I know now to be "eggs". Well now we have another one with more eggs. After reading about them I am even more disturbed by them. He and my daughter are having a good time with this, teasing me about "the finger" coming to get me. I am having much anxiety over these horrible creatures.

If anyone has tried a fungalcide or fungal remover please let me know if it worked and what it was. I am going to drive him nuts digging those things up all summer!

Am getting stinkhorns in my front yard rocked area. Went to a home gardening store and was looking for some fungicide. An employee told me to try digging up the stinkhorn and eggs and then pour a good amount of mouthwash (Listerine or similar) into and around the site. Tried it a couple of days ago and have not gotten any back in that site. Am getting some in other places. The area had a tree that was cut down. Maybe the decaying roots etc. are where the stinkhorns are growing. Guess I have to go get some more mouthwash!!!

Easy to get rid of just pour 1/4 cup gasoline on each one as it pops out. Even if it's right next to your prize plant. The stinkhorn soaks up the gas down to it's roots, it will be dried up, dead and not stinking in 3 or 4 hours.I killed about 50 in 2 or 3 weeks 2 years ago, haven't see or smelled one since.

Help! We are overcome by these nasty looking mushrooms. Everyday we dig them up and everyday they're back. They are in my perennial garden, as so I'm not quite sure as how to kill them. I will try the gasoline method and hope I don't kill anything else. They make me see sick looking at them. The other day I saw a squirrel getting ready to eat one, but I chased him away, not knowing if they are poisonous. We have never had them before ,and only hope next year they decide on living elsewhere. Thanks to any one on advise on how to get rid of them . Bev

Ive tried digging them up as they pop up every morning, but they just seem to keep popping up other places. These things are in my grass!!! They actually pop through the grass which is very thick(zoysia grass) I did the picking thing all year last year 2009, and now its the end of may 2010, and my first one of the season just popped through!! Ugh!! I could just scream. If anyone has ANY other ideas, please help, or you could be the next victim! (apparently they spread) I am going to try the local nursery again this year to see if they have any suggestions...they were pretty much useless last year!!!

I have found a fungicide I bought on Ebay which is working. I had a massive problem in my wood chips for years. I put this on this spring and as of end of July no stink horns. The fungicide is ProStar 70WDG.

Thanks for the Listerine tip. After a week and a half, no more stinkhorns. Each morning I would dig up the new ones along with any of the "egg sacks". Then I would pour Listerine on the spot. I've been free of them for almost a week now. It may have been even faster had I applied it over the whole area with a sprayer or watering can.

Here in New Mexico where it is normally very dry, we have started getting these stinkhorns in the last couple years. They are in our yard and they have spread to the garden area. We dig them up, mostly eggs, and throw them and the dirt around them in the trash. They come up next to our sidewalk and when digging them up, there is a network of white filaments radiating from them which also goes into the trash. I'd love to know how these things spread, they come up in old and new places.

Well I used Kosher salt and my old table salt to get rid of them and It seems to be working. Before even reading this site I thought of putting salt on them. Salt would dry up the mushroom of all the moisture. My back yard is covered with them and they are horrible!

I had these at my house in FL and was so sick by them I wanted to sell my home. These tips are great (I hadn't tried them), I just went out there daily and dug through the mulch to see if there was any webbing or new eggs and put them in plastic bags and put it in the trash. Eventually just dug up all of the mulch and didn't put any more down which seemed to eliminate the problem. At my new home, I decided not to use anything but rubber mulch for fear of having this problem come back again.

I saw last year someone post putting GASOLINE ON THEM WOULD WORK! I did so and it killed them off! They never came back in that spot...But in another spot on the other side of my yard! SO THIS TIME....I poured the gasoline, killed them, and then dug them up! I HATE THEM THEY LOOK LIKE WIERD MALE ORGANS!!!! EWWWWWWW......

We had them, and the accompanying swarms of flies, last summer. We tried the boiling water, digging them up twice daily, and the salt. Can't use harsh chemicals because of pets. They went away over the fall/winter. Last week they started showing up again. i wanted to scream. The amount of flies they attract makes it almost impossible to sit out and our renovated yard/patio area.

Thank you for all of the suggestions I have read. I have been researching the Internet to try and find out what I had coming up in my mulch in the back yard and am relieved it has a name and not poisonous.
I have recently pruned some trees right back so now there is more sun so am hoping that this helps kill off the stink horns along with the salt suggestion.
I will keep in touch and let you all know how it goes.

Just dug out 6 flies and all. Their horrible for sure. Love the idea of salt
and listerine. I'll leave the gas option for the hubby.
My husband at first thought they were flower bulbs blooming.
They stink for sure and the slime on the end looks like poo.
I havent seen any turkey vultures so not sure where or how this happened.
This is our first summer with these stinky habitants.

I was at a loss as to what they were until I considered a fungus. Soon after searching for fungus I had my answer. I have been removing the horns and their eggs, but had not removed the mulch, which seems to be the culprit for their presence. I will remove tbe affected mulch and pick up some lime from the garden center. I also might use Preen after I treat the affected spots once I can add some clean mulch. Hopefully they won't be back. Thanks for the helpful posts!!

I have been plagued with these! I literally just dug up 30+ of them out of my perenial butterfly garden. They are growing on the roots of an old lilac bush. There were thousands of flies on them and the smell is horrid. I have poured vinegar in the soil where they were and hope it will not kill the perenials...but truly if they come back I will have to dig up that entire garden next year. Oh and yes they are growing in the lawn also.
Does anyone have any other ideas?

I started getting these in '09. It was one year after buying bulk hardwood mulch. It was the second year of buying bulk mulch. I live under red pine and they had destroyed the soil. It was so bad, we have now turned 3/4 of our yard into a garden walk. And me with a turf degree! I chose hardwood mulch to help the soil. It's working very well. However, the second year's batch of mulch was not what I consider "good mulch". It was very rough. Huge chunks of bark and woody material. Not the best for mulching the garden.

We used it anyway. We didn't get any the next year, but did get the stinkhorns! I have not tried the salt, listerine or hot water method. The problem being they are mixed in with our perennials. I am NOT putting those near our plants. I did dig up and search through the areas they have popped up and placed any tendrils, pods, and adult stinkhorns into a wheel barrel. I then added gasoline. Less than a quart. I let the mix sit and stirred daily for 4 days. I would use a pitchfork or gloved hands to stir. I found a pod and investigated. It looked like one of those eggs we did in ele. school as kids. Pickled!

I would continue to find adults, pods and babies and added them for a couple of days. Still churned the mix and allowed the gasoline to work. The churning also allowed the gasoline to evaporate. After I was done, I spread the mix over an unused portion of our property (we own about an acre) to allow for more evaporation.

I do not like using this method, but I had so many that I couldn't use my other method. I would put them in our burn pit and have a fungal weenie roast. That was for maybe 4-6 horns. Not for infected mulch and the accompanying soil content. I also found that stirring up the soil and mulch kept them at bay for that season, if done late in the year.

I do lime my lawn. I'm looking into the copper-based fungicide for next year.

I hope this helps, too. UGH! We're supposed to be part of the garden walk, next year. I do not want penile formations as yard ornaments for all to see and wonder about. :)

There are several steps to getting rid of the Stinkhorn Mushroom; When you see one you will notice flies around them. These flies spread the stink horn seed and are spread to other locations. Before touching the mushroom Spray the entire mushroom with bug spray. Then get a plastic bag cover the mushroom and grab it by the top so the top goes into the bag. Then dig down and remove the white pods that are below the ground. After that is done remove all the pink seeds as possible. These are below the white pods and you may have to dig down six inches to find them. When you are finished pour bleach in and around the hole. If you have any untreated mulch be sure to remove it. When you get them under control you might want to think about getting some black felt to put down on the dirt in your garden and then cover with treated mulch. That way if you do get any more stink horn they can't go any further down than the felt. This can be bought from your local hardware store. Be sure to wear gloves while doing this. If you get the stink horn on you it is hard to get the smell off you.
I hope that this helps.

P.S. Be sure to put everything in a plastic bag and secure the bag so seeds can not get out of the bag. Do not put in the garbage can loose. When you have everything in the bag tie securely and place in the garbage can. As I said earlier DO NOT do this with your bare hands. Make sure you have gloves on because the stink is hard to get off. Yes, I am speaking from personal experience.

Thanks for the advice...been a couple of weeks with no new ones, but it is also very cold here now. I did throw a bunch of lime in the gardens and on the lawn. I totally agree about bagging them, it is the only way to keep the smell away!
Here's hoping they won't be back next year...but I have some concern they will!

hi all, thank you for all your great tips - I am being plagued by these disgusting things, I am diligently going out each morning and digging up any new ones that I can see (smell) I am using bleach once I have dug up all the 'eggs' I am also leaving the infected area open to the hot sun and this seems to be getting rid of the white filaments as the hot sun dries the infected area, not too sure if they will return once we get some rain. I am in Australia and it is the middle of our summmer at the moment. I am getting so desperate to get rid of them I am going to the nursery tomorrow to get some fungacide. does anyone know if these things are poisenous to dogs? not that they have been near them, think they are put off by the smell too!!

I've battled these terrible fungi for years. They ARE in our yard, they DO come back year after year, tho not in the exact same places some of the time. They 'bloom' at various times of the day and I have to check throughout the day as what wasn't there in the a.m., may be up in the p.m. drawing flies galore. We dig up whatever we can find and they go to the trash, but what a plague - our back yard looks like the war zone with all the holes where we have dug out grass & all. Found out lately that I should not have used our grass clippings as mulch, we now have a 'new batch.' Some brilliant chemist should find a solution to these terrible things - and we don't even live in a wet climate, we live in New Mexico where we don't get much rain - so go figure!!!!

We took three Queen palm trees out a couple of years ago and left the root balls. Now the root balls are rotting and we had the stinkhorn coming up under the plants. The white pods were also under our red brick stepping stones.

We have 4 Maincoon cats that get into everything. One cat ate the stinkhorn and almost died twice. Started with throwing up and than Diarrhea. Than he started having blood pour out of his rectum. He spent 3 days at the vet with major kidney and liver failure. the vet told me he wouldn't make it the through the weekend. We got a miracle because he made it. He is now home and a happy cat.

We tore out the backyard. We dug up all the pods we could see. Where the palm roots are we put a thick weed cloth down and did some rock work. We won't plant anything until we're sure the stinkhorns are gone. I am watching the new sod we put and its been a couple of weeks and so far no stinkhorns.

Just wanted to get the word out that the stinkhorns and very poisonous and deadly to pets.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona--the last thing I expected to see in my yard was stinkhorns, but they cropped up along the foundation of my house in 2012 spring/summer when we had some uncharacteristically humid weather. I spent more time than I like to think about last year pulling them out, digging out eggs, raking the rock back away from my foundation, pouring salt, spraying fungicide...and what do I see all along the foundation of my house this morning, after a week of rain and humidity? At least 30 eggs, all in the same place they were last year. I have taken down the information about the different fungicides that have been recommended, but I have to say that gasoline is sounding pretty good to me. For the post talking about fungal death at 104 degrees--this summer we experienced temps up to 122 degrees, and had weeks of temps past 110. I had hoped that after this kind of heat that anything stinkhorn related lurking in the ground was dead as could be. This morning's discovery is a big disappointment. I will post again once I try gasoline. But I agree with other posters--sites that talk about how fascinating stinkhorns are and that refuse to disclose "how" to kill them drive me crazy. Unless you've experienced the swarms of flies and the utter stench, not to mention having the view of your yard marred by their disgusting and undeniably obscene appearance, you can't relate. Now that I've read the post about the danger to pets, I am even more concerned about getting rid of them. I'll take the "dog vomit" fungus any day (yes, I've had those, too, after a humid spell) over stinkhorns. They are a foul, wretched nuisance.

I just spotted this WikiHow site... their method 2 recommends a mixture of boiling hot water and bleach. Since I didn't see the combo with boiling water listed on this thread, I thought I'd add the link.

I commiserate with all of the people who have to deal with these. We laid woodchip over our garden 2 years ago. The autumn after that, I discovered one of these. My first thought was "who has buried a red octopus in my garden!" - with the tentacle like fingers and the horrendous rotting smell, I didn't even relate it to some kind of plant or fungi. After digging it out and chucking it in the rubbish I thought nothing more of it. I soon learnt better. I have now had two seasons of continuously digging them out along with the eggs. This year with hundreds popping up in several parts of our garden I have decided enough is enough.
I contacted a local gardener, and he advised us to remove all woodchip (woodchip is like the penthouse suite for stinkhorn), skim the remaining soil and to lay down lime. (to the posting above - we are buying just the normal lime from the garden shop). Exposing the affected area to sun is also supposed to be good, but unfortunately we have a lot of large trees and ferns so this isn't an option for us.
We are now in the process of doing exactly that (no small feat as we have big gardens). If this doesn't eradicate them, I will be giving the ProStar 70WDG and the gasoline a try!
My advise to others - do not choose woodchip as a mulch.
Here in New Zealand, they grow in the forests and are very good for the environment, however not so great in your garden. I can't wait to sit outside again with a sweet-smelling breeze!